Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Upgraded to “Hold” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Fortis Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $39.91 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Fortis has a 1 year low of $36.30 and a 1 year high of $43.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.43.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 13.66% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at about $237,000. Walleye Trading LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at about $758,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 59,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Fortis by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,103,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $359,669,000 after acquiring an additional 79,519 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Capital Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Fortis by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Capital Advisors LP now owns 259,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,907,000 after acquiring an additional 15,172 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.